The third and final MotoGP free practice at Catalunya ahead of the this afternoon’s QP1 and QP2 saw a very different situation from Friday.
The Honda’s as usual came roaring back as did Marc Marquez.
The Repsol Honda rookie – wearing a special edition helmet with a lightning bolt design for his home race – stopped the clock in 1’41″853, lowering the record that Valentino Rossi had set just yesterday afternoon.
Ducati’s Nicky Hayden jumped to second with a soft tire and was just 0.
063s from Marquez, while he broke the top speed record (341.
4 km/h).
Dani Pedrosa was third fastest and was the first rider to break the 1.
42 barrier and he finished third and 0.
134 adrift, in a very tight session that saw ten riders in less than one second.
Valentino Rossi spent the entire session testing the duration of the soft compound tires and he concluded in fourth and just 0.
156s from Marquez after a last flying lap with a fresh tire.
Cal Crutchlow, also used the softer option and was fifth, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (also wearing a special helmet design) who lost the front of his M1 and suffered a crash at the Seat turn (corner 5) – his first error of the season.
Making it into the top ten and qualify directly for QP2 were Stefan Bradl, Andrea Dovizioso and Alvaro Bautista.
CRT rider Aleix Espargaro once again qualified for QP2 ahead of prototype riders: injured Bradley Smith, sick Andrea Iannone and Michele Pirro (with the Ducati laboratory bike in Pramac colors) who will have to face off in QP1.
Crashers included Yonny Hernandez, and already injured Hiroshi Aoyama, while Hector Barbera suffered a technical issue on his Avintia Blusens CRT machine.
2013 MotoGP Catalunya FP3 Results:01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’41.
853 02- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.
063 03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
134 04- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
156 05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
211 06- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
313 07- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.
405 08- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.
492 09- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.
729 10- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 0.
942 11- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
104 12- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.
117 13- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.
I.
Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.
253 14- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 1.
407 15- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 1.
799 16- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 2.
089 17- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 2.
314 18- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13 – + 2.
581 19- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM 01 – + 3.
283 20- Claudio Corti – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.
399 21- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 3.
554 22- Yonny Hernandez – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13 – + 3.
759 23- Bryan Staring – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP13 – + 3.
833 24- Lukas Pesek – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 4.
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